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This chapter deals with the Sivuqaq and Savoonga Native corporations. It also discusses how artifacts are legally excavated from St. Lawrence Island and sold and addresses the consequences both for archaeological heritage and for archaeological research. In addition, the chapter shows a recent initiative of the islanders to take control of the distribution and marketing of artifacts out of the hands of outside dealers and intermediaries. In particular, the chapter first explores the composition of antiquities market in archaeological goods, the products it encompasses, and the range of its...

This chapter deals with the Sivuqaq and Savoonga Native corporations. It also discusses how artifacts are legally excavated from St. Lawrence Island and sold and addresses the consequences both for archaeological heritage and for archaeological research. In addition, the chapter shows a recent initiative of the islanders to take control of the distribution and marketing of artifacts out of the hands of outside dealers and intermediaries. In particular, the chapter first explores the composition of antiquities market in archaeological goods, the products it encompasses, and the range of its activities, followed by a look at some of the sociohistorical contexts that have given rise to the commodification of these excavated materials. It then addresses the effects, at least in this case, of the existence of a legal market on the supply and demand of these archaeological commodities and on site destruction. Finally, it returns to the dilemma of subsistence digging and how archaeology might proceed under these circumstances.